Busy, busy, busy

NRA convention would have been nice, but, we have been working a lot of overtime with little head notice. Didn't feel like securing a hotel and not being able to attend. I believe next years meet is in Louisville. I will schedule my vacation for it so I can guarantee being able to go. Not worth driving up to Indy and trying to find parking. Long drive for a single day and too much to see when there. Don't want to feel rushed. Probably get there early and check out some of the attractions in and around Louisville when I go. I love Kentucky. Gorgeous area and lots to do. I would live on the Kentucky side if it wasn't for the Ohio river. Catch the bridge under construction and the detour would make for a long ride in to work. It's still close enough for weekend and evening trips.

Still had a great day. The weather is perfect. I took advantage of it and got my grass cut, weed whacked and trees trimmed. Took out a couple of dead bushes that the draught took out. Year before last killed a couple of them and seriously damage a couple more. The damaged ones finally died all together. Have a tree near the house that doesn't look good. Still no buds at all. May take it down next weekend. Picked up some new bushes from Lowes to replace dead ones. Putting in some butterfly bushes. Been getting a ton of humming birds and butterflies through the yard. A ton of various types of birds fighting for real estate in the Arborvitaes at the edge of my back yard. Want to put rock down around the trees. Waiting on someone to put it on sale. Usually use mulch, but getting tired of having to replace it. Tiring day, but very productive.

Great start for the weekend

Got off work and headed to the range until it got dark out. Perfect weather. Lots of fun. Finally took the henry 22 for a little exercise. They had cowboy town set up for a shoot scheduled for tomorrow. Going to have to head up there to watch. We set up some older targets so as not to upset their setup for the competition. They have been very busy. A lot of new buildings out there. It looks fantastic. Lots of new targets as well. Took the high standard 22 I picked up at the last auction a few months back out as well. Not as pretty as my browning, but shoots dead on. Good investment. Picked it up really cheap. No one present bid on it and the online bidder was low. I couldn't let it go to someone else that cheap. Flea market all weekend, so probably check it out in the AM. Suppose to stay nice all weekend. Sunday will be the last spot shoot for the spring at the club. I will probably work it and get some of my hours in for the year.

Have a Happy Easter

Happy Easter.

Gaining on it

Spent the whole day sorting out the garage. Got the mess of a toolbox straightened out and the top of the bench organized. All the wrenches are back in order. Found all my missing screw drivers. I now have a ton of tape measures and utility knives. Amazing what you find when you clean. Filled a garbage can with junk. Probably spend tomorrow organizing under the bench. Pegboard helps out a lot for organizing some of the clutter. I managed to get the toolbox under the work bench, so that gives me a bit more floor space. Ran some electric down the bench. Still need to run 220 down the wall. Weather is down right beautiful. May have to take a breather to cut the grass.

No rain today

Chilly, but dry. I was able to pull the Vette out of the garage and do a little work out there today. Managed to get the mill and lathe out of the truck. Bit of a pain, but I managed. The lathe went on the bench. I was able to back up to it and the tailgate was almost a match for the bench height. Managed to drag it over and up on the bench. Heavy little sucker. The mill was a bit more difficult. The guy I bought it from made a heck of a heavy duty stand for it. Beats the heck out of the sheet metal one they sell for it. I dropped that down to the ground, put a two by four under the feet on one side to get it almost level with the tailgate. Managed to drag the mill out and finagle it into place on the stand. Had to majorly change the garage around to make a bit of room. Still a little more arranging to get everything where I want it. Pulling some of my duplicate tools from work for home. I hardly ever run a mill anymore at work, so I brought most of my parallels and some other setup gear home. Want to get a decent vice for it. Have a collet set coming along with a chuck and arbor. Hopefully start cutting my AR lower this weekend. So far, I am off the work list, but that can change.

Lathe isn't huge, but big enough for what I need. It swings nine inch and is twenty between centers. Can't get too big with just a garage. Has a quick change gear box so I can thread a lot easier than with the little craftsman lathe I was using.  Wish I had a pole barn, or a bigger garage. If the weather stays somewhat decent, I can do a little more rearranging tomorrow. I put the pegboard up in the fall. Still need to organize the tools. Want to get the craftsman box situated under the one workbench to free up some more floor space. Managed to get the old electric oven situated against the wall where I want it. It will be my powder coat oven. Hope to run electric down the wall over the weekend. I picked up the conduit and wire already. I installed a twenty amp outlet last fall above the bench. It is on it's own breaker, so the whole run above the workbench should handle about anything I throw at it. Have to run 220 volt down the way as well for the oven. Be handy to have 220 out there anyhow.

Last day of freedom..........

Back to work tomorrow. It has been a relaxing week. Lots of fun. Machine gun shoot was Friday. Today, drove back across the state again. Why? Last night I found a mill I have been wanting for a long time. It came up on craigslist. Less than half of the price of a new one, and it's all there and in good condition. He also had two 9x20 lathes for sale. Hard choice, but I picked between them and now have two new to me additions to the shop. My garage is too small to accommodate all my vehicles and a full size Bridgeport mill, so, a tabletop mill will do just as good. I have a smaller hobby mill, but it is too light duty for most projects. It is a CNC however, so it comes in handy for engraving and small parts.  The guy has a nice set up out there. Big pole barn. He upgraded to a full size lathe and a knee mill. He was just thinning out some of the old stuff. The lathe I bought is a central machine lathe which is the Chinese junk from harbor freight, but the price was right and it has all the accessories. Has a gear box so I don't need to physically change the gears for different pitch threads. It was a choice between that, or an old Atlas. The atlas was missing some items which I could have acquired, but, the central was complete with extras including the ability to cut metric threads. He upgraded the tool holder with a more rigid design and a quick change tool post.

The mill, a Grizzly 1005Z. Decent size for the garage with lots of potential. Have to do things the old fashion way and use the dials for a while. The way work is constantly cleaning, hopefully they clean house and pitch the Accurite digitals I took off of a manual grinder they pitched. They were going to throw the grinder away with the digitals, so, it's probably not too far down the line they tell me to throw it out. Then all I need are the two scales and I am in business. May be able to use the longer of the two scales on the one at the shop. I could live off of what they throw out at work. Have to wait until after work tomorrow to unload. Had help on the other end. Have to see if I can get someone at work to give me a hand getting the stuff out of the truck tomorrow.

Can they use death certificates I wonder????

http://www.twcc.com/articles/2014/04/11/o/obama-to-focus-civil-rights-message-on-voting

I have been voting in Indiana for many years. They ask for a drivers license or state ID card. Period. No, even though I am a white boy, I don't have a passport either. I don't travel abroad Obama and I find the pole just fine. I know many dead people vote democrat so I sort of figure maybe the death certificate is ok. Simple solution. Use a bit more of the money us working folk dole out to supply state ID cards to all the welfare drones. Take away their excuse. Not the illegal immigrants mind you, seeing as how they are illegal and NOT citizens, but, free ID to all the welfare recipients, no matter what their race. Leave it to Obama to once again beat the race drum. Bigots, him and Al both.....